Ristau Found His Calling in Theater

Todd Ristau loves the theater; you can see his eyes light up when he talks about the early days and his vision for “No Shame Theatre.”  The talented and well-loved Theater professor is found at home at Hollins University these days.

No Shame Theatre, a stage concept in which anyone can get up and do a five-minute bit of almost any sort, was founded by Todd Ristau and Stan Ruth at the University of Ohio. The first venue was a theater parking lot, in the back of a pick-up truck over twenty years ago.  Conjuring something out of a movie, auto headlights acted as stage lights and people gathered around the truck/stage.

“It was a place where theater students and playwrights couldexperiment without being well known actors – and keep working at it until it worked,” said Ristau.  “We were eventually invited inside the theater,” he recalled.  Ristau brought “No Shame” to the Roanoke Valley in 2003, holding it at Mill Mountain Theatre’s Waldron Stage until that operation shut down for financial reasons.

For now “No Shame” has moved down Campbell Avenue to Studio Roanoke, the off-off-off Broadway experimental theater space, where Ristau moonlights as artistic director. Hollins alum Kenley Smith owns Studio Roanoke. Ristau hopes to participate on some level if and when Mill Mountain Theatre returns. Ristau was in the sixth grade when he knew he wanted to be an actor. While looking through a family yearbook he spotted a photo of students in various costumes.  At that very moment, he knew his calling. “I’ve always been really invested in pretending; I love the fact that my pretending and creativity inspires people to improve their lives,” said Ristau.

Jokingly he adds, “although I may not be a Hollins woman going places,[I]love being at Hollins University, which is dedicated to creative interactions with students.”

Ristau said he also wants to encourage more people to go to Studio Roanoke, where Hollins students among others have staged first readings of their plays.  “I want Studio Roanoke to be a community theater where people can come together under that roof regardless of race, age, or gender.”